Editorial: Half of a solution is another problem

August 21, 2012 - 2:00 AM

"We just can't afford any more."

The words came from a speaker at the recent hearing held by the Sullivan County Legislature, which is trying to figure out how it can put together the budget for next year and stay below the state-imposed 2 percent cap on property tax increases.

He was among many who urged legislators to find places to cut expenses rather than go above that limit.

So what can the county do? It already has dipped into its reserve funds. Even if the economy continues to improve and sales tax collections go up, that will not come close to paying for the increases in health care, pensions, insurance and other expenses just to help the county stay even. It will do even less to help the county keep providing services, many of which are at or below minimum levels.

It would be tempting to believe that Sullivan County with its widespread poverty and faded tourist economy is unique, that the combination of local, state, national and international economic forces hits hardest here. The facts coming in from around New York make it clear that such a belief is misleading.

As a roundup story in the Albany Times-Union showed on Monday, the forces at work on Sullivan County are hitting elsewhere. The City of Rochester needed $15 million in state aid to cut into, but not eliminate, its $40 million deficit. Lawyers for the City of Syracuse are drafting a memo, at the mayor's request, to spell out the details of municipal bankruptcy. And the City of Yonkers is projecting a deficit of over half a billion dollars in the next four years.

What these other local governments are finding is that the speaker at the hearing in Monticello is right. We can't afford any more.

Listen to people looking at this from another perspective and you will hear the same thing. Whether it concerns reductions in classroom aides, emergency dispatchers, library hours or garbage pickup, those who show up when budgets are being discussed look at the proposals to cut more and argue that those who need these services also cannot afford any more reductions.

While all these local governments and their leaders must focus on their present predicament, they will find themselves in even worse shape when the next budget cycle comes around if they fail to educate the public about the political source of this crisis.

Politicians love to cut taxes, especially when they do not have to explain how the resulting reduced income will pay for increasing expenses. State legislators were happy to promise to keep property taxes down but never did get around to saying what they would do to eliminate the many wasteful and expensive burdens that the state places on local governments or to change the state tax structure to make it more balanced.

As those legislators campaign to keep their jobs, people need to remember that the sentiments at the hearing in Monticello are not confined to taxes. When it comes to the people who seek to avoid responsibility for the problem they created, we truly cannot afford any more.